Agreed. As someone who used to work in the research department of a well funded university...it bugs the hell out of me that 99% of articles on "UX" websites are literally just anecdotal/opinion based bullshit.

And of course the few articles supported by "data" are often studies conducted on one particular website with one particular user flow with one particular function and one particular demographic/userbase. It's a laughable that this is how we come up with our supposed "best practices."

Agree completely, I was looking to find something to back this up but couldn't quite. Also the author is simply "anthony" and it's not possible to find any additional info on him to credit his authority in the field either.

Well he could have pointed out the study they made in america switching pictures of criminals from square to rounded, that resulted in less arrests because they seemed more friendly.

Or as we call them in the industry; Friendly Squares™

Nothing stops you from uploading a photo of a square to put inside that circle. :-)